Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Facebook has some thoughts and updates about its News Feed, Siri gets some new voices and Tonal becomes a unicorn. This is your Daily Crunch for March 31, 2021.

The big story: Facebook makes it easier to view a non-algorithmic News Feed

Facebook highlighted features today that should make it easier for users to see a version of the News Feed that isn’t shaped by the company’s algorithms. These include a Favorites view that displays posts from up to 30 of your favorite friends and Pages, as well as a Most Recent view, which just shows posts in chronological order. Some of these options existed previously, but they’ll now be easily accessible through a new Feed Filter Bar.

At the same time, the company’s VP of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, pushed back against criticism of the company’s algorithmic News Feed, saying that personalization is common and useful across the web, though he added, “It would clearly be better if these [content] decisions were made according to frameworks agreed by democratically accountable lawmakers."

Speaking of content decisions, Facebook also cautioned Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump today for posting an interview with the former president, who has been banned from the social network.

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The tech giants

Apple adds two brand new Siri voices and will no longer default to a female or male voice in iOS — This means that every person setting up Siri will choose a voice for themselves.

Instagram officially launches Remix on Reels, a TikTok Duets-like feature — Remix offers a way to record your Reels video alongside a video from another user.

Spotify adds three new types of personalized playlists with launch of 'Spotify Mixes' — Your Spotify Mixes will include artist mixes, genre mixes and decade mixes.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Strength-training startup Tonal crosses unicorn status after raising $250M — To date, the at-home fitness tech startup has raised $450 million.

Apple invests $50M into music distributor UnitedMasters alongside a16z and Alphabet —  The focus of UnitedMasters is to provide artists with a direct pipeline to data around the way that fans are interacting with their content and community.

Diversity-focused Harlem Capital raises $134M — Apparently 61% of Harlem Capital's Fund I portfolio companies are led by Black or Latinx executives, while 43% are led exclusively by women.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Five machine learning essentials nontechnical leaders need to understand — For engineering and team leaders without an ML background, the incredible pace of change can feel overwhelming and intimidating.

What to make of Deliveroo's rough IPO debut — After a lackluster IPO pricing run, shares of Deliveroo are lower today, marking a disappointing debut for the hot delivery company.

Embedded procurement will make every company its own marketplace — Merritt Hummer of Bain Capital Ventures argues that with embedded procurement, businesses will buy things they need through vertical B2B apps.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Report finds going remote made workplaces more hostile for already marginalized groups — The Project Include report is based on a survey of about 2,800 people and interviews with tech workers and subject matter experts in numerous countries and industries.

The Weeknd will sell an unreleased song and visual art via NFT auction — Abel Tesfaye, the Super Bowl-headlining musician known as The Weeknd, is the latest artist to embrace the excitement around NFTs.

Here's what you don't want to miss tomorrow at TC Early Stage 2021 — The event will include a wide range of presentations that span the startup ecosystem.

• Software Engineer at Global Science & Technology (Greenbelt, MD, USA)
• Lead Product Manager at Humanified Inc (New York, NY, USA)
• Senior Frontend Developer at Coinrule (Anywhere)
• Technical Program/Product Managers at D. E. Shaw Research (New York, New York, USA)
• Salesforce Administrator & Developer at DSPolitical (Washington, D.C., USA)

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Google tries out new ad targeting technology, PayPal adds cryptocurrency support and Substack raises additional funding. This is your Daily Crunch for March 30, 2021.

The big story: Google starts testing its cookie alternative

Google announced today that it has begun rolling out a new technology called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) in a developer trial. FLoC is meant to serve as an alternative to personally identifiable cookies (which are being phased out by Google and other platforms), with Google analyzing your web browsing behavior and grouping you with other people who have similar interests, for ad-targeting purposes.

The trial is starting out in a number of geographies, including the United States — but not in Europe, where there are concerns about compliance with Europe’s GDPR privacy regulations.

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The tech giants

YouTube tests hiding dislike counts on videos — The company says it will run a "small experiment" with different designs that hide dislike counts, but not the “dislike” button itself.

Ballot counting for Amazon's historic union vote starts today — Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama has become ground zero for one of the most import labor efforts in modern American history.

PayPal's new feature allows US consumers to check out using cryptocurrency — The feature expands on PayPal's current investments in the cryptocurrency market.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Celebrity video request site Cameo reaches unicorn status with $100M raise — Cameo has been building a good deal of steam in recent years, but it also got a major boost amidst the pandemic.

Substack confirms $65M raise, promises to 'rapidly' expand its financial backing of newly independent writers — Substack did not provide material new growth metrics, instead saying that it has "more than half a million people" paying for writers on its network.

NFT art marketplace SuperRare closes $9M Series A — SuperRare launched its art platform in 2018, since then it has differentiated by maintaining a closed early access platform, closely curating the art that’s sold.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

The Tonal EC-1 — Remember our deep dives into the history, businesses and growth of Patreon, Niantic, Roblox, Kobalt and Unity? We’re bringing the format back with an in-depth, multi-part look at fitness startup Tonal.

Is Substack really worth $650M? — More thoughts on Substack’s finances.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

A trove of imported console games vanish from Chinese online stores — A handful of grey market videogame console vendors on Taobao stopped selling and shipping this week.

Applications for Startup Battlefield at TC Disrupt 2021 are now open — TechCrunch is on the hunt for game-changing and ground-breaking startups from around the globe to feature in Startup Battlefield during TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 this fall.

• Software Engineer at Global Science & Technology (Greenbelt, MD, USA)
• Lead Product Manager at Humanified Inc (New York, NY, USA)
• Senior Frontend Developer at Coinrule (Anywhere)
• Technical Program/Product Managers at D. E. Shaw Research (New York, New York, USA)
• Salesforce Administrator & Developer at DSPolitical (Washington, D.C., USA)

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We’ve got the details on Boston Dynamics’ upcoming warehouse robot Stretch, Apple releases security patches and Cazoo is going public via SPAC. This is your Daily Crunch for March 29, 2021.

The big story: Boston Dynamics shows off its next commercial robot

Boston Robotics continues its transformation from research organization to commercial robotics company: Stretch is the company’s commercial version of Handle, a wheeled robot that could navigate around objects and pick up a 100-pound crate. With Stretch, the wheels have become less prominent, while the team has added a “perception mast” that allows the robot to see while it moves around and picks objects in a warehouse environment.

Stretch is currently in prototype form. The company plans to build the first units this summer and actually make it available for sale next year.

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The tech giants

Apple releases iPhone, iPad and Watch security patches for zero-day bug under active attack — Apple said the vulnerability, discovered by security researchers at Google's Project Zero, may have been "actively exploited" by hackers.

IBM launches its first quantum developer certification — The "IBM Quantum Developer Certification" focuses on IBM's own software tools.

Startups, funding and venture capital

DiDi Chuxing expands to South Africa, to take on Bolt and Uber — Founded in 2012, the Beijing-based company claims to serve over 550 million users in 16 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America and Australia.

Singular is a new Paris-based VC firm with $265M — Raffi Kamber and Jérémy Uzan want to build a leading European VC firm from Paris.

UK's Cazoo will list on the NYSE by way of a SPAC, valuing it at $7B and raising $1.6B — The U.K. used-car sales portal has been on a major fundraising tear in the last year.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

The NFT craze will be a boon for lawyers — Legal implications are the crux of the NFT trend.

Will the pandemic spur a smart rebirth for cities? — In this time of urban reset, which smart city technologies will transform how we live our lives?

CEO Manish Chandra and investor Navin Chaddha explain why Poshmark's Series A deck sings — Beyond TAM, founders should explain how they’ll reach key metrics.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Visa supports transaction settlement with USDC stablecoin — Visa has announced that transactions can be settled using USD Coin, a stablecoin powered by the Ethereum blockchain.

US cuts trade ties to Myanmar, leaving internet access uncertain — In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the trade suspension would be "effective immediately" and will remain in place "until the return of a democratically elected government."

TC Early Stage will dive deep on how to fundraise for your startup — Take a look at the fundraising sessions going down at TC Early Stage, which takes place later this week on April 1 and 2.

• Lead Product Manager at Humanified Inc (New York, NY, USA)
• Senior Frontend Developer at Coinrule (Anywhere)
• Technical Program/Product Managers at D. E. Shaw Research (New York, New York, USA)
• Salesforce Administrator & Developer at DSPolitical (Washington, D.C., USA)
• Director of Product Management, Online Casino (100% Remote) at Cresta Partners (Anywhere)

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